Charles Shaw

Charles Shaw is a writer and activist living in the Bay Area of San Francisco. He is the author of Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics and Spirituality, and the Director of The Exile Nation Project. Charles serves as editor for the Dictionary of Ethical Politics and the oD Drug Policy Forum.

This is Maria. She will end the War on Drugs

Maria is a composite character based on many Mexican victims of the drug war - their words and actions - who together are organizing to end the war, including Javier Sicilia, Maria Herrera and Julian LeBaron. A short animated video by the NarcoNews Network.

By Charles Shaw

/ 3 May 2012

The Exile Nation Project - Lynda Adams

Lynda Adams is the wife of Ken Adams (TENP #26), and like him, has battled an addiction to crack cocaine for over 30 years. She has spent her entire life surrounded by drugs and violence. Through a conversation with Director Charles Shaw, Lynda shares her powerful story with The Exile Nation Proje

By Charles Shaw

/ 2 May 2012

The Exile Nation Project: Ken Adams

Ken Adams of Oakland, CA has spent the last 30 years battling an addiction to crack cocaine. He has served a total of 12 years for drug related offenses. He has also spent the last 20 years advocating for the homeless as the co-founder of the San Francisco homeless newspaper, "The Street Sheet," a

By Charles Shaw

/ 26 Apr 2012

The Exile Nation Project - Robert Halstead

Robert Halstead (son of Janet Maddox Goree featured last week) is serving a 30 year sentence for armed robbery at a private prison in Graceville, FL, owned by the Correctional Corporation of America. Laws prohibit media access to Federal facilities, as well as in the California Department of Corre

By Charles Shaw

/ 9 Apr 2012

oD Drug & Criminal Justice Front Line Report - March 28, 2012

This week negative critique of the War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex goes mainstream (and, dare we say, lurches rightward) with a scathing indictment by Fareed Zakaria in Time, a man is shot dead by police for smoking marijuana as authorities try to take his son away, Chicago under ne

By Charles Shaw

/ 28 Mar 2012

The Exile Nation Project - Janet Maddox Goree

‎"The man who murdered my grandchild got probation, and my son, who didn't hurt anyone, got 30 years. How can that be?"In this special Exile Nation two-part report that examines the nature of "justice," Janet Maddox Goree, a Georgia, activist & lobbyist, reveals the pain and tragedy of having to l

By Charles Shaw

/ 27 Mar 2012

The Exile Nation Project - Chris Bava

Chris Bava is a former heroin trafficker who served 8 years in Federal prison following a worldwide sting operation in the late 1980s. Chris also struggled with addiction before and after his stint in prison, which eventually motivated him to move to Tijuana, Mexico, to seek out ibogaine, a variat

By Charles Shaw

/ 23 Mar 2012

oD Drug & Criminal Justice - Front Line Report: March 21, 2012

This week we take in the "Branson Follies" as The UK's most fun-loving Billionaire goes on the offensive with President Obama, challenging the US to seriously consider decriminalization of drugs. Meanwhile, more reports emerge showing the criminally disproportionate nature of the racial disparitie

By Charles Shaw

/ 21 Mar 2012

Peace in Medicine: Inside California's Medical Cannabis Industry

Go inside the professional operations of Peace in Medicine, a licensed cannabis dispensary in Northern California that finds itself under seige from the Federal government.

By Charles Shaw

/ 20 Mar 2012

oD Drug & Criminal Justice Policy Forum: Front Line Report - March 15, 2012

It's hard to know these days which way the proverbial worm is turning when it comes to shifts in drug policy. Election years tend to do that. Despite an historical turn of events in Central America which saw Presidents of drug trafficking nations come together to call for world wide decriminalizat

By Charles Shaw

/ 15 Mar 2012

The Exile Nation Project - Julie Falco & Dan Linn

Julie Falco and Dan Linn are two of the leading drug policy reform activists in the State of Illinois. They have spent the better part of the last 10 years attempting to pass a medical cannabis bill, and have found themselves consistently thwarted.

By Charles Shaw

/ 15 Mar 2012

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of February 23rd 2012

The prison industrial complex has been one of the main beneficiaries of drug prohibition in the US. Since the Reagan administration, many prisons have become privatized, making a highly-profitable business of incarcerating people. The exponential increase in the prison population is a byproduct of

By Charles Shaw and Juliana Willars

/ 23 Feb 2012